Improvement in shoe-blacking apparatus



vPatented July 14, 1874.

Shoe-'Blaxking Apparatus.

.Mw www Fig UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMiN DUTTON, Jn., OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT `IN SHOE-BLACKING APPARATUS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 152.984, dated July 14, 1874; application filed Apri11, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN DUTToN, Jr., of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Apparatus which is Used for Cleaning, Blacking, and Polishing Boots and Shoes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings making part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section 5 Fig. 2, a plan or top view. Figs. 3 and 4 are ditierent elevations of one of the scrapers detached.

The object of this invention is to furnish in a single instrument a simple, cheap, and convenient apparatus which shall be capable of use for scraping', cleaning, blacking, and polishing boots and shoes, an apparatus which shall automatically feed the blacking to the distributing-brush, and cease to feed such blacking at the will and action of the operator, as also to agitate the liquid blacking and prevent its settling or forming sediment in the receptacle from which it is fed to the brush.

rlhe invention consists in the combination of devices for holding and distributing the liquid blacking, as set forth more fully in the claim.

In the said drawings, A represents the shoebrush, and B the handle, as usual. To the forward end, and on the back of the brush, I apply a blacking-receptacle, C, having a capcovered iilling-inlet, a, through which liquid blacking is introduced. The'sides b of the receptacle rise above this element, and a dividing partition, d, is iitted in and made watertight about, as shown in Fig. l, except a center aperture, c, around which a tube, f, is united to and rises above the plate d. Above the plate d, and tting loosely in the case 11,1 place the head D of the distributing-brush D', which has a larger depending tube, h, covering a portion of the inner tube j'. The center aperture c is covered by a valve, g, seating against the under side of the plate d, said valve being arranged on a rod, c, having its upper end connected to a cross-bar, m, secured to the top of the tube h extending above the top of the brush-head D. A spiral spring, n, encircles the tubes between the brush-head D and the plate d, to seat the valve and prevent the escape of blackin g from the receptacle.

The brush-head D is held in its upward position by the sprin g n, and downward by a cap or cover, F, which,in practice, is made watertight on the top of the case. One or more blocks, H, of rubber or other insoluble substance, which will not materially injure the bottom of the receptacle, are placed therein.

to agitate the blacking and prevent its becoming solidified.

On either or both sidesof the brush-block A, or on the sides of the blacking-case, 'I apply certain mud-scrapers S, which are very convenient for removing any dried or adhesive substance from the sides of the boot, or from the edges of the soles or bottoms, preparatory to cleaning their surfaces with the brush A, and before applying the blacking with the brush D', which is done by placing the end of said brush on the surface of `the boot and by pressing downward with suiiicient force to push back the head D against the action of the spring, thus raising the valve g and allowing the liquid blacking in the receptacle C to pass beneath the raised valve, and;- through the tubes f and h, and into the bru'sh Dl about at K.

After a sufficient quantity of such blacking has been supplied to the distributing-brush,

the pressure on said brush is released, when the spring a operates to close the valve, and the blacking ceases to ow from the receptacle. The brush D is then moved about over the surface of the boot to spread the blacking, after which thel blacked boot is polished, in the usual way, with the brush A, or with any other suitable brush.

Instead of applying the blackingcase and the distributing brush to the back of the brush-block A, these may be secured to any other suitable device, having no polishingi The combination of the tubes j' und h, the cross-bar m, and spring n, with the Valves c und its rod, and. with the brush-head D, partition d,1eoeptaole C, und box b, all in the manner and for the purpose set forth.

BENJAMIN BUTTON, J R.

vvVitnesses:

JOHN E. CRANE, WM. S. BROWN. 

